Bloomberg Asks City Agencies for Cuts Despite Surplus

WNYC News | Jul 12, 2010

New York, NY —

Despite a projected $4 billion surplus in the City budget next year, the Bloomberg Administration wants all City agencies to cut their current budget by 1.5 percent and shave 4 percent of of next year's expenditures.

REPORTER: The Mayor says the move will help insulate the City from a potential slowdown in the economy.

BLOOMBERG: We have a $57 billion budget. If you have a department with a couple of billion dollar budget you're going to tell me they can't find ways to cut one and half percent? Come on, of course they can. They are going to just have to do that to make sure we don't get into the problems we had in the 1970s.

REPORTER: The rollback caught City Council Finance Chair David Weprin by surprise. He said the mayor's budget director Mark Page told him a few weeks ago that cuts wouldn't be necessary. The City agencies have to identify the potential cuts by March 28th, the Department of Education was the only exception.

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